Sunday, 10 May 2015

Check, check and check again

Checking stuff is important, that’s why we have checklists. I
always have to explain to passengers that we will spend maybe a good 5-10
minutes on the ground before getting airborne, making sure that the plane is
fit to fly. That doesn’t even include the time you spend doing your walk round.

Today’s flight was a great example of how even the most experienced*
pilot needs a humble reminder of how important it is to check stuff.

The first example of this occurred whilst I was still waiting for
JES to land. As well as chatting to the flight school owner (in a surprisingly cheerful
mood!) I took a moment to glance through the journey log for JES.

A quick aside here, the journey log is a record of all the flights
and maintenance that have been done on a plane. It tells you if the plane is
legal to fly. You need a check a number of things such as the number of hours
left on the engine before it needs maintenance, the various systems need
servicing at certain intervals and so on. As the pilot, it is your
responsibility to check this before every flight. And occasionally I’ll admit ,
there probably have been flights where I haven’t. The owner keeps his planes
well maintained and legal, so there is a tendency to assume that all is well.

I glance through the journey log, the last page is just two entries
of flights, so I skip back to see what else is going on. I’m looking for the “do
not fly after….”tag line from the last maintenance entry. Luckily for me our maintenance guys use a
lovely system of printed labels which make the maintenance info stand out from
the general “we added oil” stuff.

I see that the engine only has 0.1 left on the Hobbs before it
needs looking at, that could be a problem seeing as that is from yesterday and
the plane is currently airborne. Another glance tells me that the AME has
signed off a 10 hour extension. I’m good to go from that respect.

But….. I also notice there is a date on the sticker as well as an
engine hour time. “ do not use after April 2015”. It’s now May. Closer
examination reveals it’s the static pitot systems turn for an overhaul. It has
actually been done, it is just for some reason it’s buried in a wall of text
rather than a nice neat sticker.

Either way the plane is legal. It just took me some time to
confirm.

Next occurrence comes on my walkround. The plane isn’t long landed,
a solo student. Because the plane has just been flying I concentrate my checks
in different areas than I would if it’s the first flight of the day. I assume
that the control surfaces are hooked up correctly for example, but I check more
carefully for any damage that might have been caused by a hard landing.

It is looking good, no flat spots on the tires, the nosewheel
shocks intact. I finish off and climb up to dump the fuel back in the tanks. I
secure the cap and get down, realising that I forgot to dip them, Both tanks
are below the level that I can visually see the fuel level and a finger just
confirms the presence of some fuel somewhere below the tab. The gauges are
showing ¾ in one side but less than a third in the other.

Fuel gauges are notoriously unreliable. Sometimes you do get an imbalance
like that. If the plane has been doing a lot of circuits in one direction for
example.

Now I’m only going to be taking it around the block a few times. I
could probably get away without dipping them. But….

Mindful of the fact that I don’t want the accident report to read “despite claiming to have done a visual
inspection of fuel levels the left tank ran dry approximately 5 minutes into
the flight” I reluctantly grab my dipstick and get up there again.

The problem is, it’s been a month since I flew and I’m out of
practice. Stuff just doesn’t flow like it used to. Getting myself seated and belted
is a clusterf#ck all of its own. Never the most elegant person, I strap myself
in, go to hitch myself forward and realise that I’m pinned by my lap strap and
almost stuck. Yeah, I’ve attempted to use the passenger seat belt and unsurprisingly
that hasn’t worked out too well.

Eventually I get it figured and carry on, even managing to start the finicky
hot engine first time. I get as far as the run up area and the “harnesses and
doors” section of my checklist before realising that the passenger door is not
latched.

At this point I’m glad that my exaggerated “put your hands on
everything as you call it out” checklist method has paid off. I quickly pull
the latch shut.

Passengers might find it a bit weird when you lean over them to
touch the door and wndow latches on their side, but I bet they’d find suddenly being
in a convertible at 500ft off the ground even weirder!

*Yeah I’m not really that much as an experienced pilot really but
it sounds so good to say “Oh yeah I’ve got about 130 hours”. No one needs to
know that all bar a handful were pre flight test!

About Me

I once was terrified...... now I don't know what I am.
I started this blog as The World's Most Anxious Person aka WMAP.
I was scared of flying but now, somehow, I managed to get a Private Pilot Licence.
These are my thoughts......